Tag: MMA videos

To hype up Frank Mir‘s return to the Octagon at UFC 164 this coming Saturday, the UFC has released one of Frank’s career highlights — his first-round submission victory against pro-wrestling star Brock Lesnar at UFC 81, back in February 2008. Lesnar had first dipped his toes into the MMA pool the previous June, when he swallowed up Min Soo Kim at Dynamite!! USA in Los Angeles. That was enough to earn him an invitation to the UFC, but his debut fight would not be an easy one.

Lesnar wasted absolutely no time in dumping Mir on his back and firing some nasty shots from above. Then, referee Steve Mazzagatti makes a rather controversial choice, halting the action after Lesnar lands some punches to the back of Mir’s head. Theoretically, it’s the right call to make; Lesnar clearly lands at least four rabbit-punches at the video’s 11:08-11:12 mark. But how many times have you actually seen a UFC referee enforce that rule so quickly, without previous warnings? The Mazz deducts a point from Lesnar and re-starts the action with the fighters in a standing position. It’s a lucky break for Mir, who gets a moment to clear the cobwebs.

If you’ve watched the UFC for more than 10 years and enjoy living in that past (I know, too on point, is it not?), you’ve got to be pretty geeked about Mir vs. Barnett. Both men are behemoths that somehow possess slick ground skills. Both men are also charismatic and skilled shit-stirrers that became champions at an early age and have managed to remain competitive at the highest levels for over a decade. Will this match up be a test of who has the better Jitz (Mir, after all, does threaten to “drown” Barnett with his submission game in the above video, whatever that means) or will their grappling skills cancel each other out and turn Mir vs. Barnett into a slugfest? I HAVE NO IDEA BUT WATCH THIS ANYWAY.

The latest episode of the always spectacular The Reem, “Back to Basics,” depicts the former Strikeforce and DREAM heavyweight champion, well, getting back to basics. No longer a full-fledged Blackzilian (which we’re sure has nothing to do with the camp’s close proximity to the Biogenesis clinic), Overeem shifted his training camp back to Holland to focus on his upcoming fight with Travis Browne at Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen. Not to start overhyping Overeem again, but if the video that awaits you after the jump is any indication, we should probably start preparing ourselves for A NEW FUTURE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP AWWWW YEAH SNAPINTOASLIMJIM!!1!

Heading into their “Fight Night” headlining scrap at the TD Garden this weekend, it’s become apparent that both Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Chael “P.” Sonnen have made some significant changes to their training routines. The former one-time light heavyweight champion has brought in Freddie Roach to tighten up his boxing, and has improved from “punching like a girl” to “punching like a boy” according to the world-renowned trainer. Great, Freddie, now you’ve gone and sent Forrest Griffin into another Xanax-laced shame spiral. You can check a video of Shogun hitting the mitts with Freddie above.

Last night, Sonnen appeared on UFC Tonight to arrogantly cut off hosts Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier and perform “A Poem to Shogun.” It wasn’t his best work (I like my poetry to contain far more profanity) but I’d say it went over better than his recent failed stand up bit on Def Comedy Jam. Check it out after the jump, because there’s seriously nothing better going on out there and you know it.

Every time American Ninja Warrior comes onto the only television with cable in my apartment (relax, it’s a big screen. A projection big screen.), my roommate scoffs at it and launches into a rant about how superior the original, Japanese version is. The same goes for Wipeout/MXC/Takeshi’s Castle and of course, Iron Chef. And while he’s undoubtedly correct in his assertion that the American versions of these shows are “padded down, pussified desecrations of a once noble culture,” I still give my respect to the contestants brave (or simply patient) enough to secure a spot on any of them. Except Wipeout. I’m convinced that morbidly obese troglodytes with tourrettes are the only people allowed to compete on that show.

In any case, former flyweight title challenger John Dodson recently made an appearance on the Americanized Ninja Warrior, and it’s a testament to how difficult the show is that he wasn’t able to make it past the first stage. This is one of the quickest fighters in the UFC — a 125-pound ball of energy with “ninja, Matrix moves” who regularly competes in such events as Tough Mudder – and yet even he was humbled by the imaginatively-titled “Grip Hang.”

Like his previous battle with Demetrious Johnson at UFC on FOX 6, “The Magician” put in a strong effort on Ninja Warrior but ultimately came up…short (*shimmies, shimmies*). My God, I have never felt so great about being 5’9″. SUCK IT, NERDS.

The ladies have some history, to put it mildly. In January 2010, Cyborg and Coenen faced off for the Strikeforce women’s featherweight title, with Cyborg winning by third-round TKO. Despite getting bombed out for the majority of the fight, Coenen maintains that the match was stopped early; Cyborg credits the Dutchwoman’s “balls” for wanting a rematch, considering all the abuse she took. And of course, both fighters carry the weight of their pasts into the cage, from Coenen’s status as a living legend, to Cyborg’s rise (and temporary fall) as one of the best-known stars in WMMA.

If you need further convincing that this match is worth your time, check out this new “Road to Coenen vs. Cyborg” preview video from Invicta FC, directed and edited by E. Casey Leydon — who you may know as the genius auteur behind that War MMA behind-the-scenes video — and co-produced by AllElbows*, which manages to cram all these themes (along with some very badass training footage) into a highly watchable 13 minutes. Special appearance by Ben Fowlkes!

* AE photographer Esther Lin also gets a music credit at the end. Goodness, this lady can do it all.

Because every country needs to have its own MMA promotion these days, Cambodia’s Khmer Warrior Championship put on an event in Phnom Penh on Sunday, headlined by Soung Sovantha (never heard of him) vs. Bun Heang (never heard of him). You can check out the fights on the khmersexystars YouTube channel…or just watch our favorite one above, which pits Von Savy against Bun Mang. Yep, two dudes named Bun were on the same card. It is what it is.

The fight itself is pretty uneventful, up until the finish. The two fighters appear to have Muay Thai backgrounds from their stances, but neither Savy (red trunks) nor Mang (blue trunks) engaged much for the first couple of minutes. There is a lot of feeling out, a tiny bit of clinch work and two effective leg kicks from Savy.

Then, it happens.

Mang throws a left leg kick to the body that is caught by Savy, who sweeps his opponent off of his feet, grabs both of Mang’s feet by the ankles and locks on a freaking Boston Crab.

Anyone who has first-hand experience with high school locker room wrestling matches knows that the Boston Crab hold, popularized by Professional Wrestling, hurts a whole lot if you’re bad enough to let your opponent apply it.

In May 2012, Lashley suffered the second loss of his career when he dropped a decision to James Thompson at Super Fight League 3; he was inactive for a year following that fight. But now, he’s rebuilding. Earlier this month, Lashley scored a second-round keylock victory over Kevin Asplund at Titan FC 25, and last night he returned to action against Matthew Larson at Global Warrior Challenge: British Invasion card in Kansas City, Missouri, winning by rear-naked choke in 98 seconds. Check out the video above.

The victory bumped Lashley’s MMA record to 9-2, and you can look at it one of two ways: 1) Lashley is still a powerful, dangerous s.o.b., particularly in the first round of a fight; or 2) Larson put up about as much resistance as a Bubba Dummy, and the sooner we forget this match the better.